Letters: Paid sick leave makes sense for the state of Oregon

View full sizeAfter the Portland City Council passed an ordinance to require mandatory paid sick leave, Commissioner Amanda Fritz joined members of various groups that supported the action in front of City Hall on March 13. The supporters held a banner spelling out "Thank you."Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian

When I read the April 1 editorial "First Portland, now Oregon?", which argues against paid sick time at the state level, I thought surely it was an April Fools' joke.

That's not just because the "study" the editorial board mined for anecdotes to restate its opposition to earned sick time was based solely on a mere 26 interviews conducted only nine months after San Francisco's law went into effect. And it's not just because the first finding of the same report used to discredit the policy was quite positive: "By and large, most employers were able to implement the paid sick leave ordinance with minimal to moderate effects on their overall business and their bottom line."

What was the bigger reason the piece seemed like a joke? The editorial board's extensive earlier work on this issue regularly suggested the state as the right level of government to consider a labor law like this. One headline was "Paid sick days in Portland: Better to set labor standards at the state level" (OregonLive.com, Nov. 13). Another editorial, "Sticking it to small business" (Jan. 23), suggested that "Portland's commissioners should leave mandatory sick time entirely to the Legislature, where Sen. Diane Rosenbaum, D-Portland, has said she'll push the matter this session."

It's not really amusing -- nor, honestly, is it surprising -- to now hear from the state's largest paper that its editorial board doesn't like sick days at the state level either. But most importantly, it's no joke that nearly half (48 percent) of Oregonians working in the private sector -- including 80 percent of those earning $20,000 or less -- don't earn a single hour of paid sick time while they work. Paid sick time benefits workers, employers, co-workers, customers, kids, parents, health care costs and public health. And all Oregonians should earn it.

As an Oregon small-business owner, I support an Oregon-wide earned sick time law. The ordinance recently passed in Portland is a good first step, but it would be better for Oregon businesses to have one consistent law across the state. We need a level playing field that ensures employees at every income level are treated humanely and that employers who do the right thing aren't disadvantaged when they compete in the marketplace with those who don't.

We live in Oregon, and our profits aren't shipped out of state. They stay right here in our local economy. And we know our businesses do better when the people living in our communities do better, too. When working families have jobs and income they can count on -- without worrying about losing needed income or being punished for taking a sick day -- they have money to support local businesses like ours.

I urge state lawmakers to adopt a statewide earned sick time standard for the sake of our employees, our businesses and our economy.